


Distraction

by rumbellesecrets



Series: A Tale of True Love [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Dark Castle, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2017-01-06
Packaged: 2018-09-15 07:03:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9224186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rumbellesecrets/pseuds/rumbellesecrets
Summary: "Distracted enough?”Rumplestiltskin blinked, for a moment unable to pick up the thread of their conversation.Belle giggled. “I’ll take that as a yes.”





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [glindathegood](https://archiveofourown.org/users/glindathegood/gifts).



It started with a song.

Or rather, with the soft humming as Belle polished the new silver tea set.

“You’re distracting me,” Rumpelstiltskin complained, but without any real heat. His fingers paused their labor at the wheel, glad for the excuse. They had been following the rhythm of Belle’s song anyway, speeding the turn of the wheel to match the happier bits of the tune and then slowing to the peaceful sound of her heartbeat when she was silent.

He hadn’t even noticed until he glanced at the new gold and saw the uneven thread he’d made. “Just look,” he said, lifting a piece and wrinkling his nose at it. “Disgraceful.”

Of course Belle took it as an invitation to put teapot and rags down on the table and come closer. He expected her to stand before him, with the wheel between them, study the thread and announce that he was exaggerating with exasperated fondness. Instead he found himself blinking as Belle walked around the spinning wheel to stand at his back. Trying to feign indifference, he told himself not to startle at the warmth of her hands gripping his shoulders as she bent forward for a closer inspection.

“It looks pretty to me,” she told him.

“Well, it’s not,” he ground out stubbornly.

He clenched his other hand around a spoke of the wheel when Belle pressed closer, reaching to pluck the golden strand from his fingers. He took a moment to bask in her warmth before he looked up, and when he did it was to find her admiring his work, going as far as to pull up more of it so she could loop it around her wrist. “I think it’s gorgeous,” she said, and he found himself nodding because the thicker bumps that should have ruined the thread now looked like warm honey droplets against her skin. Belle smiled. Kissed his temple. “See? This works too.”

He halted her when she would have retracted her arm. Gestured at his gold to wrap itself around her a few more times, and then clipped an end with his thumbnail. Belle was gazing at him with curiosity, making no attempt to avoid his touch or flinch back when he curled his hand around her wrist and the dark mist of a spell rose from between his fingers.

“Oh, that’s gorgeous, Rumple!”

Rumpelstiltskin had to admit that her new bracelet made a lovely piece of jewelry. Few times had his gold served a better purpose. “Hm. It’s decent, I guess,” he said anyway, adding a dismissive shrug.

Belle arched her brow. “If this is only ‘decent’, then maybe you need to be distracted more often in order to improve.”

Oh, he had distractions enough. The thought of her presence in the castle came to mind. Even when they weren’t in the same room, he would find proof of her existence at every turn. “Maybe I already am,” he said, trying for a grumble and failing.

Belle laughed. “Does this mean I’ll eventually get a whole set?”

“Greedy girl,” he chided without rancor, recognizing now when he was being teased.

“Oh well,” she sighed, then gave her bracelet something of a regretful glance, but continued cheerily enough. “It’s not as if such things belong outside a court ballroom anyway. If I try to sweep while wearing it, all that dust will only ruin it.”

Rumpelstiltskin twitched his fingers, longing to promise her a line of social engagements where she would shine as the brightest star. But now that Regina had made sure to make the rounds and spread the gossip, everyone had stopped pitying Belle for having become the price in a deal with the Dark One, and instead were wary of her for choosing to return to him.

Wariness bred resentment, he well knew. And resentment eventually showed as hatred.

Were Belle to appear in public, she would be treated with the spite that was masked in his presence. A few palaces would end up burned to the ground before the fools learned their lesson, and Belle would never forgive that.

“Whatever you’re thinking now,” Belle’s voice said, suddenly closer as she’d come to sit at his side, “I believe you need to be distracted from it.”

Her hand lifted to thread into his hair, caressing the rim of his ears with her thumb. Her eyes met his, and Rumplestiltskin had a feeling his lips were already mirroring her soft smile.

The kiss was still a surprise.

Minutes later Belle stroked his cheek, kissed him one last time, and moved to lean her head against his shoulder. “Distracted enough?”

Rumplestiltskin blinked, for a moment unable to pick up the thread of their conversation.

Belle giggled. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

He gave a soft huff of laughter. “Witch,” he said fondly, threading an arm around her waist to secure her closer. Belle deserved the world, but if he couldn’t give her this one, then he’d have to take her elsewhere.

A few days dedicated to her wouldn’t hurt a plan three centuries in the making.

Belle was shaking her head in amusement at his description of her. “I don’t have a drop of power in me and you know that, Rumple.”

But Rumplestiltskin shook his head. “You’re the most powerful woman in the world, my love,” he whispered into her hair, not surprised when Belle laughed at the notion. “Command me and I’m yours.”

Her laughter died, and she turned to him with an earnest gaze. “I don’t want your power, Rumplestiltskin. I want _you_.”

Rumplestiltskin smiled indulgently. “Of course, dearest.”

That was exactly why he offered her everything else too.


End file.
